>From: Duane Joseph Corpis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 08:52:26 -0700 >Subject: pro/anti America, peace movements, & university campuses > >I'm going to try to send this one more time... it doesn't seem to have >gone through to the list... sorry for posting on a topic that seems to >be on the wane (actually 2 topics -- the war and pc'ness on university >campuses), but this is important to me... > > I agree whole-heartedly with several listmembers who have argued that >political criticism is wholly a >part of the American civic, democratic tradition. The current media >spin, dominated by pro-war rhetoric, is clearly NOT part of the American >civic, democratic tradition. Newspapers during the Spanish-American war >and during the U.S. war against Philippine revolutionaries in the late >19th-century had far more diversity of opinion (pro-imperialist, >anti-imperialist, pro-U.S. policy, anti-U.S. policy) than the media >today. I am a university history professor, and THAT is what I teach my >students about U.S. democracy (its successes and its failings). Dissent >is crucial to democracy. Remember: it was ANTI-war dissent that led to >the treason trial of a New Mexico citizen. I was detained by the police >weeks ago for posting peace rally signs. Some student(s) posted signs >on my campus saying, "If you see a peace activist, punch them. If they >don't fight back, punch them again. Once they defend themselves, tell >them that they aren't being a good pacifist." (the quote is rough and >from memory, but very close to what was printed on the poster). No one >was reprimanded for promoting violence of this sort on campus, because >its message was supposedly "pro-American." Peace activists, however, >are stifled left and right on college and university campuses. So much >for the assumption that 60s style Marxism or 90s style postmodernism >have made campuses dogmatic and arenas for the suppression of opinion >and speech. The only indoctrination that goes on at my campus is from >the mainstream culture, informed as it is by two political parties that >might as well be one on most issues and a media that is more interested >in money than information, entertainment than education, and strong >ratings rather than strong, critical commentary. > >Am I anti-U.S. foreign policy? Yes! We should understand that U.S. >policy throughout the developing world breeds resentment, hostility, and >oppressive economic, social, and political conditions. > >Am I willing to recognize that war on Afghanistan will do little to >change the conditions of women, children and ethnic minorities in >Afghanistan? Yes! (The RAWA, an organization of Afghan women fighting >for human rights in their home country have recently reported that the >Northern Alliance is just as patriarchal, anti-human rights, and >oppressive as the Taliban. Maybe we should have listened to the women >of Afghanistan 10 years ago. Maybe we should listen to them now!). > >Do I condone terrorism? Hell NO! Terrorist organizations in the Middle >East, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the U.S. (the KKK?) >have killed and terrorized political leftists and reformers >systematically. I am also a former New Yorker. I just moved from NYC >to Atlanta less than a year ago. The attack on the World Trade Center >was emotionally, psychologically, and personally devestating to me. It >was senseless, needless, and brutal. How should we respond? This was a >crime against humanity, and like other such crimes, we could have an >international tribunal. According to some of the German press on Sept. >12th and 13th, the Taliban contacted the U.S. and said they would be >willing to surrender bin Laden. That wasn't reported in the U.S., >because U.S. officials and the U.S. media were beating the drums of war. > How would the U.S. public have responded if they knew there was a real >possibility that this could have been resolved diplomatically and >through judicial rather than militaristic means? If we can build a >military coalition against terrorism, why can't we build a diplomatic, >itruly internationalist coalition against terrorism and for peace? > >Am I anti-American? I had the chance in the last two weeks to leave >here and become an ex-pat. I was sorely tempted. I am disappointed in >U.S. democracy like never before. But I chose to stay, in order to >exercise my rights as an American citizen to dissent and to engage the >political order I live in. I chose to stay because when I teach, I ask >my students to think beyond the nightly news and the opinions of their >parents. I ask them to think for themselves. And if they are becoming >critical thinkers, that's the best thing I can do with my life. Some >come to me after the semester is over and tell me that they learned >about things they never knew, and that I have challenged their received >political wisdom. Is that indoctrination? I don't think so, because >some students, with whom I politically disagree the most, are some of my >best students and are the students who seem to appreciate my classes the >most. They enjoy the dialogue and the debate. None of my students get >that in their everyday lives. They don't get it at home. They don't >see it on TV or hear it on the radio. > >OK, this rant has gone on long enough. > >Peace, >Duane
